One of the most important steps in learning a new skill is finding the best information and the right teacher to help you navigate the process. Web development is no exception, as is learning to use Velo as a platform to build web applications.

When Will Fourie was learning to use Velo, he looked to all of the traditional sources of information to help him understand the platform. That of course included the API Reference and other documentation the Wix teams have created. Fourie also relied on help from other users and the Velo community to master the platform.

But Fourie felt that there was an opportunity to bring together all the lessons he learned on his own into an online course. So like he’s done several times in the past, he created one himself - and then he made a few more.

You can find Fourie’s courses on online learning platform Udemy, where they will help you understand Velo and other advanced features offered by the Wix platform. “One of the reasons I built the course on Udemy, was because I felt that’s what I was lacking. I felt like I could help make the process easier for others. I’ve been getting lots of feedback on the course and people seem to like it, which is really gratifying.”

However, Fourie is neither a full time instructor or a professional web developer by trade. Rather, Fourie discovered Velo as part of his entrepreneurial efforts outside of his full time job.

“I’ve always had a programming background, but that’s actually not my profession. I’m a banker, specifically, I lead an analytical team at one of New Zealand’s biggest banks, and do statistical programming with SAS, R and SQL,” he said. “But I’ve been programming since I was 12, in C++ and other languages. I’ve dabbled in Android app development including making some games. But along with that, I’ve been using Wix to build websites, including before Velo was released.”

Fourie said that using Wix was seamless and provided an easy way to create great looking sites. However, he felt that it wasn’t so easy to add advanced functionality. That changed when Velo was released.

“Velo has been a game changer. Now you can do just about anything on Wix, which is great, but you still have all the drag and drop, ease of use features as well. So you can make sites that look really great as well.”

The first project Fourie built using Velo was a job listing website designed to help people looking for work. It was only the first in a series of sites and projects built using Velo.

“The [job listing site] was one of the first things I built with Velo. It was fantastic, he said. “I built it in a couple of weeks, working part time. In fact, I was able to do most of the development work on the train during my daily commute.”

The flexibility of Velo and its ease of use were important for Fourie since all of his web development had to take place outside of his normal work hours. His goal was to build projects designed to provide passive, additional income.

One of the more “out of the box” sites that Fourie built was a relationship monitoring site. The idea was that the site could serve as a place for couples to choose attributes about their relationship that are important and every day, the site would prompt the users to score how they felt about the attributes they identified.

“I’m a stats guy so it fit in well with my background,” Fourie said. “Velo was helpful in that regard, allowing me to build dynamic charts that the users could look at to monitor their information and their relationship.”

Like for many - if not most entrepreneurs, not all of Fourie’s projects have taken off the way he may have hoped. However, when they have, he identified a common theme that other developers or entrepreneurs can look to for inspiration.

“The reason that the Udemy course has been so successful, I believe, is that I was building something that I wanted, that I needed,” he said. “With my other projects, I’ve tried to build things that I thought other people may want or need. But where I’ve been successful is creating something that I would find useful for myself.”

That’s an important lesson for entrepreneurs, or anyone working to build something that offers value to potential users or customers. How will you use Velo to create something valuable for yourself or your business?

You can get started with Velo to find out.